COAST RANGE. The Pacific shore of the United States rises abruptly from the ocean along nearly its whole length, with practically no coastal plain of any size from southern Cali fornia to the Strait of San Juan de Fuca. The hills and low mountains which border the ocean are given the general name of the Coast Range. They do not form, however, a continuous ridge. but are rather parts of more or less disconnected uplifts, lower and possibly younger than the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges. North of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca the mountains of Vancouver Island and the Island Range of British Columbia mark the continuation of these uplifts, although in British Columbia the name of Coast Range is given to the mountains vvhich border the continental shore and are spurs of the Cascades.
In California the Coast Range comprises two parallel ridges, 400 miles long, 30 to 60 miles apart and parallel to the coast from Point Concepcion in lat. 35° to Cape Mendocino, the ridge on the coast being the Coa.st Range proper and the inner the Monte Diablo range; the two separate the Sacramento and San Joaquin val leys from the Pacific. In the south the coast ranges and the Sierra Nevada coalesce and the topography is complicated by east and west ranges; thus opposite the Santa Barbara channel is the Santa Inez Range, having a height of about 4,000 feet, and farther south is another east-and-west range, the Santa Monica. Still farther south the uplift is much broken and irregular without strongly marked ridges but with portions rising into central dominating points like the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains, about 11,000 feet high.
North of lat. 35°, toward San Francisco Bay, there are no very high peaks. The highest peaks near the bay are Monte Diablo, 3,856 feet, an isolated peak that is a conspicuous land mark for miles; Mount Helena, 4,343 feet ; and Mount Hamilton, 4,400 feet, the latter famous as the site of the great Lick Observatory. North of San Francisco Bay the heights of the sum mits gradually increase, and 150 miles north is Mount Bailey, 6,357 feet. Farther north the Coast Range becomes gradually a series of dis connected mountain groups, and near the Ore gon line east-and-west ridges develop which unite with the Cascades, the most important of these being the Calapooia Mountains in Oregon.
Along the Oregon coast the uplift is low, being generally less than 3,000 feet. In Wash ington also the uplift is not great except in the Olympic Mountains between Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean, which culminate in the fine pealc of Mount Olympus, 8,150 feet.
Extending along such a length of coast, the coast ranges have a wide variety of climate and differ much in vegetation and attractiveness. In California, north of lat. 38° to San Frandsco Bay, much of the outer range is covered with brush and has some timber. South, the moun
tains are covered with a thorny undergrowth known as chaparral. Near the coast, from Santa Barbara to San Francisco, there is a fair rainfall in the interior. The climate is very dry and the mountains are generally bare. North of San Francisco Bay the rainfall increases and the moimtain valleys are fertile and pic turesque. In Oregon the rainfall is heavy and in Washington very heavy; the mountains being covered with thick forests of fir, pine and spruce.
Geologically the mountains of the coast up lifts, besides being newer than the Sierra Ne vada and Cascades, are also less broken through by granite than the Sierra Nevada, and less covered by lava than the Cascades. The up heaval began in late Tertiary time, and perhaps continued into the Quaternary, Pliocene rocks being upturned at a high angle near San Fran cisco Bay. South of San Francisco Bay the rodcs are mostly of the Miocene series, though there are large areas of Cretaceous in the east side of the Monte Diablo belt. North of San Francisco Bay and in Oregon the proportion of Cretaceous increases and the Tertiary is much less. On Vancouver Island an uplift is believed to have taken place in Jurassic time.
Generally spealcing, the rocks of the Coast Range in California are much metamorphosed, and large masses of serpentine and similar rocks are not uncommon. In places these serpentines sometimes contain workable deposits of chrome iron ore, though, owing to the limited demand, the production is small. The chief mineral wealth of the Coast Range is in quicksilver and petroleum, though some gold has been washed from placers in southern California. The quick silver occurs at a number of places in the range where the altered rocks are silicified, and the total production, though the ore is generally of low grade, has been large.
South of San Francisco Bay, in the Miocene, in places is a great thickness of bituminous shale, there being several thousand feet of it near Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. This shale has been used extensively as a material for paving streets. Valuable oil-fields have been developed near Los Angeles. Little coal has been found in the range in California, and that is of poor quality. In Oregon is the Coos Bay field.
In Oregon and Washington the Coast Range contains very few mineral deposits of import ance. On Vancouver Island, however, promis ing copper deposits are being developed on the west coast, and on the east coast are large and important coal mines.
The Coast Range naturally has no river sys tems, nor, except in California, is it a barrier to rivers of the interior. It is crossed by the Columbia, Coquille, Rogue, Klamath and other rivers.
For mineral resources of the range see COAL ; PETROLEUM. See also BRITISH COLUM. BIA ; CALIFORN IA ; OREGON ; WASH 1NGTON.